MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt: MOR; Prime Standard Segment), the Munich-based biotechnology company, today announced that within the scope of its collaboration with Centocor Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, Centocor has elected a new target molecule involved in auto-immune diseases, against which MorphoSys will generate antibodies using its proprietary HuCAL GOLD® technology. Centocor will carry out pre-clinical and clinical development and subsequent marketing of resulting products. In exchange, MorphoSys stands to receive licensing and milestone payments, in addition to royalties. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In December 2000, MorphoSys and Centocor entered a collaboration to develop fully human antibodies in a wide range of therapeutic indications. Within the scope of the collaboration, Centocor has an option on up to 30 therapeutic target molecules against which the partners will make optimized fully human antibodies using MorphoSys’ proprietary HuCAL® technology. In March 2002, the existing partnership was expanded when Centocor ordered AutoCAL™, the MorphoSys-developed system for automated screening of the HuCAL® antibody library. Since the start of the collaboration MorphoSys generated two HuCAL® antibodies meeting pre-agreed success criteria.
'We welcome the opportunity to expand on our partnership with Centocor by adding this new program,' commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys. 'This marks a further step in execution of our strategy to maximize the number of products based on our proprietary technology and underscores the potential of our technology to generate promising drug candidates.'
In December 2000, MorphoSys and Centocor entered a collaboration to develop fully human antibodies in a wide range of therapeutic indications. Within the scope of the collaboration, Centocor has an option on up to 30 therapeutic target molecules against which the partners will make optimized fully human antibodies using MorphoSys’ proprietary HuCAL® technology. In March 2002, the existing partnership was expanded when Centocor ordered AutoCAL™, the MorphoSys-developed system for automated screening of the HuCAL® antibody library. Since the start of the collaboration MorphoSys generated two HuCAL® antibodies meeting pre-agreed success criteria.
'We welcome the opportunity to expand on our partnership with Centocor by adding this new program,' commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys. 'This marks a further step in execution of our strategy to maximize the number of products based on our proprietary technology and underscores the potential of our technology to generate promising drug candidates.'